Women of the World Unite: a call to action this International Women’s Day

Fascists have made their anti-feminism and misogyny crystal clear. The far-right encourages patriarchy under the guise of traditionalism, putting women ‘back in their place’ is a key requirement of palingenetic ultra-nationalism. They do not take issue with our current systems of oppression, they merely want to ensure like-minded bigots have a stranglehold on the reins of power. Their enemy is anyone who fights against a hierarchy with like-minded straight, white, cishet men at the top. Fascists seek to destroy all people vocally opposed to the core ‘values’ they preach: white supremacy, patriarchy, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and any form of bigotry that can be used to seize power by dividing workers. Women do hold up the half the sky, the time has come to bring the sky crashing down on fascism.

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While the right is honest about the fact that they embrace patriarchy, liberals claim to support feminism but refuse to condemn the systems of oppression that feed it. Fascists seek to smash feminism and all forms of revolutionary egalitarianism, liberals simply water it down to meaningless platitudes and twist feminism into a false hope of a kinder, gentler form of wage slavery under capitalism.  The main ‘International Women’s Day’ website is a saccharine mess of corporate sponsorship that denies the radical roots of and robs all meaning from this important day for socialist feminists and all workers.  We are not fighting for more diverse oppressors, we fight to end these systems of oppression entirely. We cannot allow neoliberalism to claim the things that define us and rightfully belong to us: whether it be our International Women’s Day, our socialism, our feminism, or our revolution. 

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Our position is unique in that it is opposed to both the blatant sexism of the far-right as well as the milquetoast and hypocritical feminism of the centrists and Liberals. Thus our struggle against patriarchy is twofold: to defeat the far right’s increasingly brutal systems of gender oppression, and to resist the empty reforms of the center right and their capitulation to the tyranny of the owning classes. To any feminist reading this who hasn’t cut their ties with the Democratic party and like-minded groups in hopes they can be transformed, ask yourself: aren’t you tired of half measures and broken promises? What progress have working class women achieved that didn’t come from grassroots struggle? This March, I encourage you to fight to preserve the radical roots of International Women’s Day, and to consider what you can do to honor the memory of all workers who have sacrificed to build a more equitable, intersectional, socialist feminist future.

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The Women's Commission is an intersectional, socialist feminist group. We are open to all members in good standing of the Socialist Party USA that are marginalized due to their gender identity under patriarchy: trans women, non-binary people, gender fluid, gender nonconforming people are always welcome, contact us to get active!